Hemp Benchmarks®​, a division of New Leaf Data Services, is a leading provider of financial, business and industry data for the North American hemp markets. We offer comprehensive and unique benchmark services for public and private organizations, and financial institutions.

Management Team

Over 100 years of cumulative commodity data services experience

More than 80 years of cumulative hemp and cannabis industry experience

Subject matter experts in multiple jurisdictions/geographies

Jonathan Rubin, CEO - Jonathan has more than 25 years of business experience in regulated and unregulated markets, including 18 years as a management consultant advising on strategy, financing, acquisitions and post-merger integration. Over the past decade he directed the turn-around of the energy commodity analytics business acquired by S&P Global Platts from The Financial Times; provided due diligence on the acquisition of a globally recognized commodity information service; and co-launched The Petrochemical Standard, a commodity pricing agency serving traders of petrochemical futures.

Ian Laird, CFO & General Counsel - Ian has more than 30 years of finance experience as a lawyer, an investment banker and a private equity investor. He has extensive experience raising capital for private companies and entrepreneurs, as well as advising public and private companies on mergers, acquisitions and divestures. Ian has specialized in structuring non-recourse project financings that address commodity price risk in various industries, including energy, mining, and pulp and paper.

HD Shah, Managing Director, Price Assessments- HD has more than 15 years experience in mining and analyzing data to develop the viewpoints on physical and financial markets that reveal trading opportunities. He assisted in designing and launching an online platform for analyzing fundamental commodity data at Platts—the largest commodity data, analytics and price reporting agency in the world.

Keith Holecek, Managing Director, Data Operations & Client Services - Keith has nearly 20 years experience developing database products, creating user interfaces, and liaising between customer segments and product development teams. He served as the technical liaison between Platts and the Dept. of Homeland Security on a multi-million dollar contract to provide a highly-secure geospatial database of critical energy infrastructure used by the CIA, FBI, and other federal intelligence agencies in domestic security operations.

Bruce Kennedy, Hemp Expert & Industry Analyst - Bruce is an award-winning journalist with over 30 years of research and reporting experience. He is a nationally recognized reporter who has been covering the legal cannabis and hemp markets since 2010.

Adam Koh, Hemp and Cannabis Expert & Editorial Director - A former academic and commercial cannabis cultivator, Adam is our Editorial Director and resident hemp and cannabis expert, and provides editorial analysis and commentary for our reports. From 2013-2015 he managed an indoor medical cannabis cultivation facility in the Denver area that consisted of 350 lights devoted to flowering plants. He shares his thoughts and analysis of cultivation and regulatory issues on his personal website (cannabiscandor.com).

Nic Easley, Hemp and Cannabis Expert - After serving in the military, Nic moved to Colorado and established a 35 acre organic farm. He has 8 years of hemp and cannabis experience. He specializes in harvest and curing techniques aimed at achieving maximum yield and potency, and has consulted to more than 50 clients on organic farming, legal cannabis & hemp production via 3C

Dr. M. Denton, Special Advisor on Quantitative Methods, Market Economics, Trading & Risk – Dr. Denton is an expert in quantitative methods and economic risk, with more than 30 years experience, including advising exchanges and financial institutions regarding risk assessment and governance, market modeling, and trading and hedging programs. He has deep experience with energy and agricultural forwards, options, exotics, weather derivatives, and structured products.

Mark Lasser, Executive Advisor – Mark has 25 years of operational analysis. A Lecturer at University of Colorado, at Denver, Mark oversees cultivator cost allocation and accounting.